The Day of Commemoration of Righteous John of Kronstadt. The Head of the Metropolitan District Celebrated the Liturgy at the Intercession Church in the town of Issyk

2 January 2026 – the Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ, the day of commemoration of the Hieromartyr Ignatius the Godbearer and the righteous Archpriest John of Kronstadt.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in the town of Issyk, Almaty Region.

Concelebrating with the Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District were: Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Administrator of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District; Bishop Ignatius of Aktobe and Kyzylorda; Bishop Claudian of Taldykorgan; Bishop Veniamin of Talgar; Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, rector of the Almaty church in honour of the Icon of the Mother of God «Joy of All Who Sorrow»; Archpriest Alexander Gaichenya, sacristan of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral; Archpriest Nikolai Tkachenko, rector of the Epiphany Church in the village of Malovodnoye; Archpriest Vladimir Bartashevich, rector of the St Paraskeva parish in the town of Talgar; Hegumen Nazarii (Markov), rector of the Spaso-Siluan Issyk Hermitage; Hieromonk Varsonofy (Larionov), rector of the Archangel Michael Church in the village of Turgen; Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat; Priest Roman Klyuev, rector of the St Alexander Nevsky Church in the village of Saimasai (Alexandrovka); Priest Kirill Freigang, acting dean of the Talgar Church District and rector of the St Nicholas Church in the town of Talgar; Priest Georgy Rublinsky, rector of the Kazan Cathedral; Hieromonk Ambrose (Dudonov); Protopriest Deacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Protopriest Deacon Roman Golovin, head of the Metropolitan’s protocol service; Protopriest Deacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

By the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, an icon of the righteous John of Kronstadt, sanctified at his tomb at the St John of Kronstadt Stavropegial Convent on the Karpovka River in Saint Petersburg, was brought to the Intercession Church. The icon’s kiot contains a fragment of the vestment of the righteous Kronstadt pastor and a piece of wood from the oak tree planted by the saint at the St John Convent.

The chants were performed by the men’s choir of the Almaty Diocese under the direction of Deacon Alexander Piven.

Praying at the service were: the Secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation, choirmaster of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District choir, member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Russian Church Singing O.N. Ovchinnikov; residents of the town of Issyk and nearby settlements.

The sermon after the Communion verse was delivered by Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, before the icon of the righteous John of Kronstadt with the revered relics, a doxology was sung to the saint of God and to the Hieromartyr Ignatius the Godbearer.

Many years were proclaimed to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’; to the Head, the Most Reverend hierarchs, clergy, monastics and the God-protected Orthodox flock of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District; to the President, the authorities, the armed forces and all the people of Kazakhstan.

Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the faithful on the day of commemoration of the All-Russian pastor, after which he addressed those present with an exhortative homily.

In recognition of his archpastoral labours and in connection with the 60th anniversary of his birth, Metropolitan Alexander presented Bishop Ignatius with the Order of the Venerable Confessor Sebastian of Karaganda. His Eminence also congratulated the ruling bishop of the Aktobe Diocese on his name day, wishing him strength of soul and body, longevity and God’s help in the service of the Holy Church, after which he presented him with a holy prosphora and a commemorative panagia.

“It is fitting to call the righteous Archpriest John of Kronstadt almost our contemporary. Some witnesses of his earthly life, his prayerful подвиг and miracles were granted to live until the day of his canonisation. I was fortunate to be personally acquainted with such people. My spiritual father, of blessed memory, the hierarch Archbishop Meliton of Tikhvin (Solovyov), who reposed in 1986, personally heard the instructions of Father John.

Vladyka Meliton more than once recalled the story of his childhood meeting with the great righteous one. Father John said to the boy – young Mikhail Solovyov – the future hierarch: ‘Love the Church of God, and you will never do her harm.’ These words of the Kronstadt pastor, as a kind of spiritual testament, Archbishop Meliton passed on to me and to his other spiritual children.

A manifest miracle also occurred in his life. In 1934, Father John appeared in a dream vision to the young priest Mikhail Solovyov. The vision was very vivid. The righteous one addressed the priest commandingly with the words: ‘Confess me!’ The next day Father Mikhail was arrested. During interrogation, the investigator asked: ‘Is it true that you venerate the monarchist priest John Sergiev?’ In that dreadful hour Vladyka Meliton did not renounce the name of the righteous one; he truly confessed Father John of Kronstadt, and the latter showed him a wondrous miracle, delivering him from imminent death. At that time, such declarations of veneration of Archpriest John of Kronstadt could entail repressive measures up to execution. Vladyka Meliton said that he understood this well, but could not act otherwise – he could not renounce or dissemble.

The miracle manifested by the righteous John of Kronstadt radically changed the life of Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov), an active church worker and courageous confessor of the faith. This happened when Nikolai – that was the metropolitan’s name in the world – was still a student. Once in summer, when Nikolai came from Kazan, where he was studying, to his native Vyatka for the holidays, his mother Antonina Evlampievna fell mortally ill. Doctors said that nothing could help her and that she had very little time to live. At that time Father John of Kronstadt was visiting Vyatka. Showing extraordinary persistence, Nikolai persuaded the batiushka to come to their home. The prayers of the Kronstadt pastor, his confidence that the Lord would grant what was asked, worked a miracle – Antonina Evlampievna recovered literally before everyone’s eyes. The miraculous healing of his mother struck the young man, and, wishing to imitate Father John, he became a zealous, industrious priest – an enlightener and man of prayer.

The Kronstadt pastor was also well known within the bounds of present-day Kazakhstan. At the request of the Pavlodar merchant Artemy Ivanovich Derov, Father John blessed the beginning of development of the Voskresensky coal mine, thereby laying the foundation for the Ekibastuz open-pit mine – the largest coal deposit in Kazakhstan; with the prayerful and financial support of Father John, the Orthodox Kyrgyz Mission began its activity in the city of Semipalatinsk.

Our compatriots, martyrs for Christ in Semirechye – Priest Evstafy Malakhovsky and the chronicler of Eastern Kazakhstan, Priest Boris Gerasimov – bore witness to the gracious help of the Kronstadt righteous one. By his blessing, the Kronstadt ascetic strengthened in his decision ‘to embark upon the difficult path of pastoral ministry’ a student of the Moscow Theological Academy, Alexander Solovyov, the future rector of the Znamensky Cathedral of Semipalatinsk, an outstanding church and public figure of the Irtysh region at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century.

The Hieromartyr Bishop Pimen of Verny (Belolikov) was related by family ties to Father John of Kronstadt and was his spiritual pupil. As a young man, Bishop Pimen often spent his holidays in Father John’s home. Under the gracious influence of the Kronstadt pastor, the spiritual character of the future hierarch and martyr was formed.

During the years of godless rule, the name of Archpriest John Sergiev was under prohibition, but even then hierarchs and priests from cathedras and ambons set before the faithful the life of this great righteous one as an example. ‘The cross adorned his chest, and his soul shone not only for his flock, but for all believing Russia with the light of lofty virtues,’ – thus spoke of Father John the holy confessor Nicholas, Metropolitan of Almaty.

The ascetic of piety Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), in one of his sermons, praised the Kronstadt pastor with these words: ‘Even now his prayer does not cease for peace in Rus’, for the standing firm of good Rus’, for piety, for the healing of our spiritual and bodily infirmities.’

The life and spiritual feat of the Kronstadt righteous one have been studied quite thoroughly. Many books and monographs have been written about him. Yet each time one rereads the life of the ascetic, becomes acquainted with new or already known recollections of him, the personality of the pastor is revealed from new sides.”

From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.